How would you like to live at the Navy Yard?
Over the years, the Navy Yard has been transformed from an active Navy shipyard to a campus of offices deep in South Philly. In the near future, it could be seeing yet another transformation.
Instead of remaining as just an urban office campus, the Navy Yard could soon become a place for you to live.
The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation is in the process of negotiating deed restrictions with the U.S. Navy in order to make living at the Navy Yard a possibility.
More from The Inquirer:
John Grady, president of the PIDC, said the agency hopes talks will lead to opening the campus to developer pitches within a year. PIDC envisions as much as 1.5 million square feet of rental housing, as well as small retailers and amenities.
The Navy Yard’s historic buildings would be the first to be remediated, renovated, and converted into rental housing, Grady believes. “In our 2013 master plan, we talked about opportunities where residential could add value,” he said.
“We’re targeting a market of young professionals focused on multifamily rentals as primary housing. There would be a combination of renovation of historic loft-type spaces and new construction. There’s probably between 1,000 and 1,500 units in an initial phase, or about 200 units per year over a period of years.
This new housing would be targeted at a younger population of those between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, especially those who currently work at the offices located in the Navy Yard.
According to PlanPhilly, there are currently 11,500 daily workers at the Navy Yard, with approximately 1,000 new employees being added each year.
What do you think of this plan? Would you like to eventually live in the Navy Yard?
I thought there were issues with the land in the Navy Yard being contaminated. Working in a building there is one thing, but I don’t think I’d want to live there.
The water you bathe in and drink everyday comes from the Delaware river…You’re worried about contaminated land?
Granted, this article is from 1998, but I think the last paragraph is enough for me…
“Over the years, the Navy has cleaned up hot spots of PCBs, asbestos and other contaminants. The EPA once supervised a dig in an area suspected of containing buried cylinders of poison gas, but nothing was found.”
http://articles.philly.com/1998-04-04/news/25768056_1_contamination-shipbuilder-kvaerner-philadelphia
Good find there. I’ll have to agree with you then lol.
Two words: Zombie. Apocolypse.
I’ve worked in the Navy Yard about 8 years ago for 5 years. It’s awesome down there. Very clean. Not to mention, Urban Outfitters headquarters/cafeteria is unreal! I’d live there if the price was reasonable.
I used to work down there as well. Urban actually bought the building our business used to occupy. The building at 15th and Kitty Hawk apparently was where they’d manufacture the propellers for the older nuclear subs!
Amazing what Urban has done with the place though. Love their cafeteria. I’m excited about how it is coming to life down there. I hope they keep some of the old ships and keep the old naval charm of the place. The old admirals homes are great too..
DiNic’s roast pork is down there too. They still make good sandwiches.
I’d really love to see some NBA size basketball courts complete with college and NBA 3 point lines. Indoor, outdoor, pavilion… Whatever is clever. But I think it would be super popular and draw people from all parts of the city.
pretty sure the foundry is still active.
None of the residential stuff is going near any of the shipyard. All the land where the apartments are going are down where the old residential stuff used to be. I’m not really sure you’ll find much contamination there.
Actually, if PlanPhilly didn’t use such a low res image, you’d be able to see that the residential is mostly in existing historic buildings, while the stuff in the old residential area is office space and light industrial, which makes sense, since the already established landscape of the parade ground is an obvious amenity for anyone who’d want to live there.
The profusion of parking lots makes it all look a bit industrial park, but I suppose if it was successful, they’d disappear over time in favor of more density.
The Navy Yard is really a beautiful site, and developing the complex into something mixed use will really help turn it into more a destination for the whole city as a lovely historic waterfront site.
good point michelle c.
the updated master plan eliminated the residential marina district and pushed the residential into the existing buildings. I’m actually excited to see what an updated version of the old residential building by the chapel wowuld look like.